Bourjois Bio Detox Organic Foundation Review

These days, the majority of us are very aware of the "smart" language that a multitude of different companies use to try to manipulate us into buying their products. So, when I came to be in Superdrug looking for a new liquid foundation, now that the cooler weather has hit, I was instantly weary of this new foundation from Bourjois.

I've had some great experiences from Bourjois when it comes to Foundation, but I don't know, this one just screamed "I'm using fancy language, but really I'm just shit!" I just could not move away from this feeling of being taken for a ride by the words "Bio", "Detox" and "Organic". The words just sound too good to be true.

Nevertheless, I was desperate for a liquid foundation, I found a shade that suited my skin tone (just about), and the foundation had a promotional offer, so I decided to give it a whirl, if only for the sake of this blog!

Packaging: A while ago, I read a blog claiming that companies provide a set budget for the production of a product, which means that they either put all of their cash into the product, leaving a little for the packaging, meaning that you can't expect everything to be perfect about a product.

This definitely appears to be the case with this product. If the declaration of this product being organic etc is true, then they have most definitely sacrificed on the packaging. For a start, the packaging is plastic (not glass, like I'd expect from this type of foundation) and flimsy plastic too. The lid is just boring, and the bottle just has no really personality or oomph to it.

I can't help feeling that the packaging has also fallen foul of Bourjois choosing to dedicate too much attention to that fancy language that I mentioned before.

Application: Applying this foundation is pretty easy, with either your fingers, a foundation brush or a sponge. The only issue I had was that it really is possible to apply too much product, and if you do it can feel really disgusting, especially if, like me, you have naturally oily skin. For that reason, I think that this is probably more suited to people with dry or combination skin.

Smell: Perhaps predictably from something that claims to be organic, this foundation smells really, really....weird. I would honestly like to believe that this is because it has natural ingredients, however, whilst some of the ingredients on the packaging do *sound* natural, about 75% of them certainly don't.

Overall: I want to believe that this is a natural product, but as I've said, I honestly don't. Personally, I find this product gimmicky and sub-par compared to other foundations, especially Bourjois ones. And, I definitely feel that this is definitely not the best foundation around, and I am doubtful that I will ever buy it again.

Bought from: Superdrug
Price I Paid: £7.99 (Launch Offer)

Is this Britain's Most Elusive Nail Polish?

A couple of weeks ago I received a promotional email from Barry M, as I'm sure many of you guys did. And, it was advertising their new range of Nail Polishes, including the very interesting "Instant Nails Effect" polish, which you apparently paint over a base colour and as it sets, sets into a funky looking pattern (I'm still in awe over that video!!)

So, as you can imagine, I was incredibly excited to try this new polish out, and I desperately want to know how the heck it works. But, after visiting several branches of Boots and Superdrug in my daily travels, I've come to the conclusion that this has got to be the most elusive nail polish in Britain!

Everywhere I have looked, the polish has been sold out, and none of the shops I've visited seem to be very quick at re-stocking the empty spaces...either that, or the minute they're re-stocked they're emptied again!

The reason that I find this interesting, is because struggling to find a product is something more frequented by the larger price ranges of cosmetics from Urban Decay to NARS. Barry M, is instead a lower budget cosmetic range aimed at High street shops, so it's interesting to see how big an impact this brand has.

Even more interesting, is the fact that this is actually the second time in the past few months that I have had trouble finding a nail polish. Last time it was Rimmel's Matte Top Coat, which following rave reviews from other fellow beauty bloggers appeared to have been snapped up everywhere I went as well. I eventually found it of course!

But, doesn't it just frustrating when you really want to give something a try, especially when you have heard so much about it, and yet you just can not find it anywhere?

Has anyone else experienced trouble trying to find a must-have product? What lengths have you ever gone to, to get it?

The Eyeshadow Primer Dilemma

Happy Monday everyone,

I went to Newark with my mum a few weeks ago, and she was on the look out for a new Eyeshadow Primer, since the mini-sized one from Urban Decay that she has is starting to run out. The only eyeshadow primers that I know of are of course Urban Decays, and the Too Faced Shadow Insurance, of which I had never tried, but as expected, the Newark Boots is tiny, so we didn't expect to find either. But, the plan was to find out if any of the cheaper brands offered a cheaper substitute. The answer? No. But, they do have a Clinique one for £20 if that's any good? £20? Are you serious?

In the end, I ended up ordering a Too Faced Shadow Insurance for my mum from Asos.com for £10.77 since it was her birthday. But, it made me wonder why so few companies offer eye shadow primers? Maybe they do, and we're just missing them. Maybe they're so popular they're always sold out. Or maybe they don't think we need eyeshadow primers, which is weird. A few brands do Face Primers, and several brands of Mascara come with double-ended ones with a white primer on one end, so why are eyeshadow ones so exclusive?

I guess the lack of competition explains why the ones available are so expensive, but then, the brands that do sell the primers are expensive brands anyway. It just seems weird to me.

We haven't actually tried the Too Faced Shadow Insurance yet (expect a review in the future), but it seemed like a natural progression to move onto the Too Faced alternative, because although both my mum and I agree that we don't know how we lived without eyeshadow primers, the bottle shape is just such a nightmare, and the stopper that prevents you taking out too much product seems like an annoyance too, in the sense that it makes you think there's no product left when actually there is.

For packaging, I was very impressed with the squeezable tube and funnel, so I'm fairly confident that this product is going to score highly in that sense, but only time will tell if the actual product inside the handy tube will live up to its main competitor of Urban Decay, so we shall see.

Oh, and on a different note. You might have noticed that this is the first time that I've used photos that I've actually taken myself, woohoo! That's thanks to my very early Christmas present from my Mum (thanks mum), of a Nikon Coolpix L22, which I am really chuffed about. The quality of close-ups is amazing, and in the space of four days, I've taken roughly 107 pictures! So, you can expect lots more pictures on my blog from now on. And, I'll hopefully be updating more frequently again :)